Economic report indicates West Virginia is in recession

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) - New findings from an economic index indicate that West Virginia is in a recession.

The Register-Herald (https://bit.ly/1qmeonR ) reports that the Mountain State Business Index has found that West Virginia has seen deterioration in economic activities since the spring of 2015. According to the index, current readings remain largely unchanged over many months.

The economic recession has been largely a result of the decline in the coal industry. The index found that in March there was a 3.1 percent month-to-month decline in coal production. It also found that there were month-to-month gains registered for natural gas production.

The index combines seven economic indicators to measure the expected swings in the state’s economic activity.

Brian Lego, a West Virginia University research assistant professor of economic forecasting, said coal output fell during the first fiscal quarter of 2016 and will likely continue to decline. He said several other factors have heavily affected coal production, including environmental policy, declining exports, warmer-than-normal winter weather and increased usage of natural gas by electric utilities.

Lego said West Virginia “has experienced a sufficiently deep and broad-based-enough drop in activity to suggest the state fell into recession territory by mid-2015.”

John Deskins, director of West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, said the state’s recession is expected to continue into the summer. He says that outcomes vary across the state and that the “outlook is substantially more optimistic in various parts of the state.”

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Information from: The Register-Herald, https://www.register-herald.com